Apple denies helping NSA tap into iPhones

Apple on Tuesday strongly denied knowledge of an alleged National Security Agency program that allows the government to penetrate and spy on iPhones.

“Apple has never worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in any of our products, including iPhone. Additionally, we have been unaware of this alleged NSA program targeting our products,” the company said in a statement.

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Apple’s denial follows a string of reports in Der Spiegel about the NSA’s highly classified hacking arm, called Tailored Access Operations. That unit has worked, according to the German magazine, to exploit weaknesses in Microsoft’s Windows, Cisco’s routers and Apple’s iPhones — the latter through a program codenamed DROPOUTJEEP, which may have allowed the NSA to tap into older versions of the device’s operating system. Separately, a security researcher this week raised questions that Apple may have assisted the NSA.

“Whenever we hear about attempts to undermine Apple’s industry-leading security, we thoroughly investigate and take appropriate steps to protect our customers,” the company said in its statement. “We will continue to use our resources to stay ahead of malicious hackers and defend our customers from security attacks, regardless of who’s behind them.”

Leaks from Edward Snowden detailing the scope of NSA surveillance have created problems for leading U.S. technology companies, which fear the revelations could erode public trust in their products and services and result in new market barriers in Europe and other regions. Tech giants including Apple have pressed the U.S. government for the ability to disclose more information about government surveillance requests in a bid to demonstrate they’re not willingly handing over consumer data to Washington. And some tech companies have recently begun calling for broad limits on how much information the NSA can collect.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and top executives from Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other tech companies met with President Barack Obama at the White House earlier this month to discuss the effects of U.S. surveillance.